iPod/iTunes Question

[VaSteve]

I bought an iPod last night. I am trying to dump a bunch of my music into the PC. When I put a disc in iTunes, the readout at the bottom says "14 tracks, 1.1 hours, 671 MB" My simple math makes me figure I could fill this 30 Gig Ipod with 50 CDs....

When I look at the library, it only looks like I have filled up 4G so far with 1200 some files. Does it make them smaller in some way when they are recorded to the PC?

[stomachmonkey]

You have just discovered the joy of mpeg compression.

Figure an average bitrate of 128 will get you a compression factor of around 10. So your 671 mb CD just got compressed to 67 mb's.

The higher the bit rate the better the quality but the less compression.

Scott

[VaSteve]

Whew. Thanks.
I was hoping the number it was showing me was a "before" figure.
Still getting used this this wacky Apple software.

[FrayAdjacent911]

Now you can get into different ways of encoding MP3s... if you have discriminating ears, and decent headphones, you'll be able to tell the difference between a 128Kbps and a 256Kbps encoded song.

[nostatic]

with 128 AAC, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference relative to a much higher mp3 stream.

"Regular" audio files (wav, aiff, sd2, etc) run about 10MB/min. Typical mp3 compression (or AAC) are about 1MB/min or less depending on the details.

[jyl]

I think it works out to 5,000 songs per 10GB of iPod, more or less, depending on compression, song length, etc etc.

That's a lot of songs. 500 CDs? I've ripped every CD I own (ahem) and I only have 2/3 of my 20GB iPod filled.

[lendaddy]

I actually bought my wife an IPod mini the other day. I feel dirty for the Mac thing 4 gig will be more than enough for her. As a humorous side note, I bought it at a bigbox and here was the conversation with sales boy:

SB: Hello Mr. interested in the iPods?

LD: Yes, for my wife. Do these all accept the same formats? I mean can you just rip to these from your CD collection?

SB: Oh yes, it's very easy! Does she have windows XP?

LD: Actually she's part of the MAC cult so that part is easy.

SB: [confused look] Hmmmm, I don't think itunes works on a MAC. But if you have XP she could just do it from your PC.

LD: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........[scanning SBs face for sarcasm and sadly not finding it] Yea........Apple makes these, I don't think that's a problem.

SB: Oh yea right [obviously no clue what I'm talking about] so let me tell you about our great in store extended warranty!

LD: [sigh]


I also got her the matching FM transmitter so she could take it anywhere. I was most impressed with that I think, excellent design and ery compact/integrated.

[Yellowbird RS]

i-trip is crap try to get an interface addapter or plug using cd-ch aux wires for the headphones plug

[Moses]

Originally posted by Yellowbird RS
i-trip is crap try to get an interface addapter or plug using cd-ch aux wires for the headphones plug

My iTrip works great. Never a problem.

[techweenie]

I have the iPod hardwired into three of my cars.

I discovered an adapter for the Audi that lets the headunit control the playlists to the iPod can be tucked away out of sight. Made by PIE. Highly recommended.

In L.A., where there are over 140 stations on the dial, I can't imagine an iTrip would have a clear frequency, but I haven't tried it.

[island911]

Originally posted by jyl
. . and I only have 2/3 of my 20GB iPod filled.

holy crap! . . thats a lot of eggs in one basket.

I feel so in adequate. ... just bought my wife the ipod shuffle. My thinking; why would anyone want more than a couple hundred songs on one device...any more would be a management pain.

[FrayAdjacent911]

I just got my new second gen HiMD player. Man, I love it. 1GB discs, decent transfer speeds, digital amp... it sounds great! I use it to bring in to work to listen to music when I get the chance. I also use the discs for data (downloaded movies and TV shows, so I can watch them on my laptop in the evenings when it is slow).

Now Sony needs to come out with a car deck, and I'm set!

[lowyder993s]

i-trip is crap try to get an interface addapter or plug using cd-ch aux wires for the headphones plug

That's for sure...mine's hard wired in (tho not outta sight), I just put the thing on shuffle songs and scroll thru what I don't want to hear. I have an 05 Chev 4x duramax diesel and all the controls are on the steering wheel, so I can do most (not all) functions from there.

[Saintly]

Originally posted by jyl
I only have 2/3 of my 20GB iPod filled.

I have about 28Gb of my 40Gb ipod filled.

I also think the sound from the iTrip is not very good.. assuming that you can find a clear frequency and a clear line to your antenna.